Apparatus for product transportation in tyre-forming machine

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus tor transporting a green tyre or an intermediate assembly body for a green tyre in a tyre-forming machine according to the first part of the claim. Such an apparatus is known from the US-A-38 65 669. Due to the movement of said apparatus a dead space occurs and to avoid the drawbacks resulting from it according to said US-Patent a ring is provided. A construction like this is however not satisfactory.

[0002] Therefore it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus according to the above mentioned type avoiding the ring and reducing the sum of dead spaces of the parallelogram links.

[0003] According to the present invention two systems of link members are each combined together through pins so as to form a number of parallelogram links of the two systems having a cooperating movement, and at least one driving device being provided for swinging said angular levers.

[0004] The angular levers can be swung by driving means whereby all the shafts are rotated through parallelogram links, and by swinging the levers attached to said shafts, it is possible to extend or contract (open or retract) synchronously in radial direction, thereby permitting the holding or release of green tyre or an intermediate assembly body for a green tyre.

[0005] At the same time, corresponding to a change in size of the product or tyre, it is rendered possible to sutably select the length and angle of the levers fitted with holding members so that a fairly wide range of such correspondence can be ensured without replacing any parts. Also, on account of surface contact among the shafts, pins, levers, links and circular plates, they do not wear out easily and keep a large possibility of lasting maintenance and moreover, it is also possible to reduce the largest external configuration of said transport apparatus to a possible minimum in order to put up with a small dead space due to the movement of the apparatus, thus contributing to an appreciable cost-down of the operation, thanks to the simplification of the structural parts of the present invention.

[0006] The characteristics of the invention will be made clear in further detail by the following statement with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :

Figure 1 is a front view of a radial tyre forming apparatus broken in part showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention ;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I of Fig. 1.

[0007] In Figs 1 and 2, A designates a second-stage forming drum, B designates a headstock adapted to support the drum A in a rotatable manner and housing means for driving the drum A, C designates a belt drum for assembling a belt ply and tread in cylindrical form, D designates a stand capable of supporting the drum C in a rotatable manner and housing means for driving the drum C, E designates means for transporting green tyre formed by the drum A or an intermediate assembly for green tyre assembled by the drum C, and F designates a common base for conducting the movement of the driving means E in the axial direction of the drum.

[0008] While the second-stage forming apparatus should have attachments such as a stetcher, ply servicer, means for moving the transport means and control means, they are not shown in the drawings.

[0009] As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the transport means E consists of a pair of ring-shape circular plates 2 secured to a carriage 1 adapted to be guided on the common base F and to move in the axial direction of the drum, a plurality of rotatable shafts 3a and 3b are alternately provided on the circular plates 2, levers 4 having each holding member 5 are attached to the shafts 3a and 3b, a triangular lever 9a is attached to one of the shafts 3a, a triangular lever 6a to the other shaft 3a and a triangular lever 6b to the shaft 3b respectively, the adjacent levers 6a and 9a are connected together by means of a link 8a through pins 7a on one hand and on the other hand, the triangular levers 6b themselves are connected together by means of a link 8b through pins 7b thereby to form two sets of parallelogram links of mutually cooperative of movement, namely, the link 8a, triangular levers 6a and 9a and the circular plate 2 are combined to form a set of parallelogram link mechanism having the pins 7a and the shafts 3a as support points, and the link 8b, triangular levers 6b and the circular plate 2 are combined together to form another set of parallelogram link mechanism having the pins 7b and the shafts 3b as support points. These two sets of parallelogram link mechanism are combined together by means of a lever 14 secured to one of the shafts 3b, a lever 17 secured to one of shafts 3a and a link 16 adapted to connect the levers 14 and 17 through pins 15.

[0010] On the other hand, the fluid-pressure cylinder 11 is already connected to the triangular lever 9a whereby said two sets of parallelogram link mechanism are actuated at one time so that, a plurality of product-holding members 5 can be extended or contracted (opened or closed) synchronously in radial direction.

[0011] According to the aforesaid embodiments, the product-holding members are so designed as to be actuated by said linking mechanism and since the shafts, pins, levers, links and circular plate are all in mutually surface contact so that there is little wear among them and high accuracy can be maintained over a long period of time.

[0012] At the same time, by suitably selecting the length and angle of the levers having product-holding members, it is possible to make all such assembly compatible with changes in size of products to be transported within a fairly large range, without exchanging the parts. Also, since the largest external configuration of all assembly complies with the end of the triangular levers, it is permitted to make the triangular levers small in size so that all the assembly can be provided in compact form because of which it becomes possible to provide a dead space consequential to the movement of the present apparatus.

[0013] Particularly, it is possible to increase the number of the product-holding members without the increase in a dead space thereby enabling the product-holding members to facilitate stabilized holding.

Claims

An apparatus for transporting a green tyre or an intermediate assembly body for a green tyre in a tyre-forming machine which comprises transfer means (1) capable of moving in the axial direction of a forming drum (A), a pair of circular plates (2) attached to said transfer means (1), a plurality of rotatable means (3a, 3b) provided at substantially equal intervals in the circumferential direction on said pair of circular plates (2) on a circle concentric with said circular plates, said rotatable means being fitted with levers (4) having product-hold. ing members (5) for a green tyre or an intermediate assembly body for a green tyre and also angular levers (9a, 6a, 6b), said angular levers being connected together by means of link members (16, 8a, 8b), characterized by two systems of link members each combined together through pins (7a, 7b) so as to form a number of parallelogram links of the two systems having a cooperating movement, and at least one driving device (11) being provided for swinging said angular levers (9a, 6a, 6b).

Ansprüche

Gerät zum Befördern eines Reifenrohlings oder eines Zwischenmontagekörpers für einen Reifenrohling in einer Reifenformmaschine, bestehend aus Überführungsmitteln (1), die in axialer Richtung einer Formtrommel A geführt werden können, zwei kreisförmigen Platten (2), die an den Überführungsmitteln (1) befestigt sind, mehrere Dreheinrichtungen (3a, 3b), die in allgemein gleichen Intervallen in Umfangrichtung auf den beiden kreisförmigen Platten auf einem mit den kreisförmigen Platten konzentrischen Kreis vorgesehen sind, wobei die drehbaren Einrichtungen mit Hebeln (4) versehen sind, die Halteglieder (5) für den Rohling oder eines Zwischenmontagekörpers für einen Reifenrohling sowie Winkelarme (9a, 6a, 6b) aufweisen, die mittels Verbindungsglieder (16, 8a, 8b) miteinander verbunden sind, gekennzeichnet durch zwei Verbindungsglieder-Systeme, die durch Stifte (7a, 7b) derart miteinander verbunden sind, daß sie eine Anzahl von Parallelogramm-Verbindungen der beiden Systeme bilden, die sich miteinander zusammen bewegen, und durch zumindest einen Antrieb (11) um die Winkelarme (9a, 6a, 6b) zu schwenken.

Revendications

Appareil pour transport d'un pneu vert (ou de départ) ou d'un corps de sous-groupe intermédiaire pour un pneu vert dans une machine à mouler des pneus, comprenant des moyens de transfert (1) capable de subir un déplacement le long de l'axe d'un tambour à mouler A, une paire de plaques circulaires (2) fixées aux moyens de transfert (1), plusieurs moyens pivotants (3a, 3b) disposés en intervalles substantiellement égaux dans la direction de la circonférence sur les deux plaques circulaires (2) sur un cercle concentrique avec lesdites plaques circulaires, les moyens pivotants étant équipés des leviers (4) comprenant des éléments à retenir le produit pour un pneu vert ou un corps de sous-groupe intermédiaire pour un pneu vert et aussi des leviers angulaires (9a, 6a, 6b) étant liés ensemble par l'intermédiaire des éléments de jonction (16, 8a, 8b) caractérisé par deux systèmes d'éléments de jonction unis par des pivots (7a, 7b) pour ainsi constituer plusieurs jonctions en parallélogramme des deux systèmes d'un travail coopérant et pourvu d'au moins d'un mécanisme de commande (11) pour pivoter les leviers angulaires (9a, 6a, 6b).

Drawing